I guess I'll go get a towel
by Takhisis Abolesco
Summary: [Squall & Rinoa] We've all had days like this, the kind that all you really want to do is sleep. Too bad for Squall, that's just not in his cards. Just a silly, annoying night for Squall. Disclaimer: FF8 Characters belong to Square.


**Blah:** I guess the first thing I should say would be, If yer in a serious mood, I wouldn't expect you to want to read this... I'm not looking foreword to negative comments. Secondly, this basically describes an event that happened to me, and I thought that Squall would love to experience it himself... of course for the sake of the interesting-ness of the story, some things were exaggerated. Thirdly, I recall writing this and having an overwhelming desire to say bloody tampons, so yes... there's a little insight into the story. Hyne, I'm blathering on, probably losing your interest... okay, read on.

Oh I remember, I forgot what the word 'towel' meant, and my sister had to explain it to me... I really didn't understand until the next morning while taking a shower. I was not doing drugs and or drinking... I just couldn't remember... that is all...

* * *

"I guess I'll go get a towel"

Squall put his fingers to the bridge of his nose in an attempt to free himself from the incessant sinus pressure. He felt the notion of a headache coming on and he had work to do. He sighed. The bed squeaked as he got up and pitched a handful of reports onto the pillow.

_If I were aspirin… where would I be hiding…? Ah yes, now dumb of me… perhaps the medicine cabinet._

His search lead him into an extremely logical place; the bathroom, and above the sink; the cabinet. The cover flipped open, a loud squeal was emitted. Squall stepped back before looking in the thing.

_Hyne, why must everything I own annoy me?_

The shelves were jam-packed; Squall took a good minute and a half swiping away cobwebs and dead flies. The scene appalled the newly appointed commander. His fondness for bugs was right up there with his immense love of people. When the thousand-eyed corpses were cleared away Squall took a moment to wash his hands. No surprise to him, there was no hand soap left, just a bubbly empty dish. He sighed again and headed to the shower to retrieve a squirt of shampoo.

_It's sudsy… right?_

With clean raspberry hands Squall set out for a face towel, or any towel in fact. Squall cursed aloud, his patience dribbling out of his ears. The towel rack was vacant, and his spare dishtowels were even misplaced. For the third time he sighed, wiping his wet palms on his shirt. The cold mess stuck to his stomach.

_Oh my Hyne - it's fucking freezing!_

Exiting the tiled palace, Squall reentered his hotel-like dorm. He was furiously wiping his T-shirt, trying to expedite the drying process without much success. Cold, wet, and utterly disappointed he flopped carelessly onto the bed.

_I believe I hate myself._

The large stock of SeeD reports crumpled under his head. The man in leather admitted his defeat and tightly held his face in rage. In a sweeping movement, he swung his legs off the mattress and landed on his knees. His fingers inched away as he surveyed the damage.

_Oh yeah Leonhart, official documents from Galbadia… smooth. They're going to think you a professional now! Hey, buddy, at least you didn't spill coffee on 'em. Right… UGH, my head!_

"Only because I don't drink the nasty crap water, only because I don't drink it."

_Super, now I'm thinking and talking to myself, well that's just great._

"Shut up, it's not like you haven't done it your entire life." Squall completely removed his hands from his face and got up. "I really don't like you… not one bit…"

Squall's head rattled as he stood, his vision flushing pink for a second before he shook the haze. He leaned on one arm over the bed as he scooped the _official documents_ he had so haphazardly dumped. The crinkled edges of some top papers ripped slightly.

"Oh Hell. Just rip, I don't care," he yelled into the milky pale sheets, "be my guest."

The heap was then abandoned on his computer desk. The area where a monitor would most likely be found now was cluttered in flimsy shrapnel. The explosion of papers had knocked a tin of pens and pencils to the floor. Squall inhaled sharply as they hit bottom, and again sighed. The breath stretched into the night and ended with him slumping to the carpet on his hands and knees. The sudden blood rush sent his brain filing.

_I don't even know why I'm cleaning this up._

Bitter and resentful toward the seemingly innocent implements, Squall raked them in from under the desk. The jar was pushed back against the wall and he had to climb into the leg nook to reach it. As heedfully as possible the stray sticks were replaced into their holding container. The task underway was backing out of the small square without injuring himself even more. It was difficult, but he was a SeeD, they were trained for this kind of combat.

_Okay, now that that's taken care of…_

In his assent to the surface, the back of his head caught on the desk's keyboard tray, the wooden bastard jabbed him and came off it's wheel rollers.

"Look, I know you and I never got along... but I'm begging you, Hyne, stop punishing me!" Squall massaged the back of his neck, steering away from the disloged _wooden bastard_. He was not about to let it get the best of him again. Meerly leaving it there was only a minor failure in Squall's eyes, he was almost sure his life would be endangered if he approached the half dead foe.

_Rest in peace... bastard._

The can was set on his desk, and once again the full size bed gathered him into its warmth. A sigh turned to a sob as a rapping at his door resounded. Squall dismounted in the same fashion as before, and painstakingly clawed his way up to the menacing rumble. He spied the peephole to discover Rinoa oscillating back and forth.

_Usually I'd be thrilled to see you Rin, but Hyne you're always so damned chipper… and bouncy… and loud…_

The door unlocked with a reverberating _clink_! As it swung in, Rinoa's face popped out from behind, smiling widely. Squall stood squarely in the door jam; his blue eyes blankly focused on the wall behind her. The smile melted into one of confusion as she tilted her head and moved in front of his gaze.

"Uh, Squall, you feeling alright?" She sniffed the air around him, "Mmm is that raspberry?"

"Oh, uh yeah." Squall's concentration was broken, but only momentarily, for the next second his head cocked and his eyes starred unblinking at the far wall.

"You ah, think I could come in… or something? Maybe…? Squall…" Rinoa touched his shoulder. The contact struck him and he blinked.

"You know, that wall paper is truly hideous." Squall motioned behind her to the pink checkered and orange floral pattern. Rinoa turned and nodded.

"Yes, it's not pretty one bit… But uh, you doing okay…?" The hand on Squall's shoulder squeezed briefly.

"Hey, why don't you come in, make yourself a tad more comfortable." A gap appeared and Rinoa went in, her hand slipping from her partner's shoulder. The bag she toted was lazily discarded on Squall's desk; it's contents remaining hidden. "So, ah, work late?"

Casually Rinoa waved her arm back at him, her keys landing on the desk as well. "Not really, I stopped at some places." Squall's line of sight fell on the mysterious bag.

"Hmm, that explains the… the uh… sack thing." Squall struggled to remember the word for sack thing as Rinoa let a laugh out.

"A _bag_, was that what you meant? 'Cause if that's what _sack thing_ translates to, then yes… it does explain it, I suppose." Rinoa leaned over and put her leg up to unstrap her heels. "Little torture chambers these are. Oooh, that's better."

"So yeah, what's in the _bag_?" The ache in Squall's forehead let up and he glided up to Rinoa. The back of his fingertips strayed along her jaw line. "Anything for me?"

Rinoa leaned back into his touch and tilted to look at him. "No, not in the bag… no… but keep that up… I may have something _lying_ around." Squall flushed. Rinoa immediately took notice and twisted her lips into a devious grin. His hand continued along her neck and then to her collarbone, the cool air stung her as Squall's heat passed over her skin.

The same gentile hand caressing Rinoa dove foreword straight into the handles of the plastic bag. Rinoa put her hands on her hips and watched as Squall reached in.

"I already said, nothing for you." Rinoa undid the cuffs of her work shirt, awaiting Squall's reaction.

"Oh wonderful." Rinoa peeked over her shoulder as Squall removed a package of tampons. "You were wrong Rin…" Another confused expression crossed her forehead.

"About…?"

"Indirectly of course… but hey, anything to keep you from crabbing about-" Squall's chest was met with a small fist and a mumble; _quit complaining_. The box was grabbed out of his grasp and tossed onto the desk, it hit another object, Squall couldn't tell what it was.

"You think you could get my pills, since you seem to have everything under control?" The most adorable pout crossed Rinoa's face; Squall could have kissed her little nose. Could have, but was already undertaking another endeavor. He began his way to the medicine cabinet once again, only to remember shortly there after that it was bare of everything but oxygen. Rinoa, however, stalked him into the room, baffled as ever.

"It's all gone." Another empty gaze fell over the commander; he stared at the space, almost as if his lingering onlooking would unveil a stash of pillboxes.

_They'd probably be empty even if they just so happened to manifest in front of my face. Op, there I go again!_

"Uh, yes, it's empty... Squall, I was just kidding around, you can have some aspirin… I did learn to share in kindergarten."

"It's all gone." The phrase was repeated, followed by a pleading set of furrowed eyes. Rinoa held up a white bottle of tablets and shook it. The motion sent Squall into a whole different world.

_Holy Hyne! They did manifest in front of me…_

"Were you hiding that bottle?" Squall playfully said as he approached his lovely.

"Uh, no… It was right in the bag. You looked pretty stressed this morning, so I bought… some…" Rinoa was hardly able to finish before her mouth was bombarded with Squall's. The suddenness pushed Rinoa back into the hallway. It was a brief kiss; he pulled away and snatched the bottle from her. "Okay then…" Rinoa ran her hand through her hair, taking out the band holing it up. The nervous reaction adopted from Squall began haunting her every day life.

Squall practically tripped his way to the kitchen sink; he popped two caplets and gulped straight from the faucet. Rinoa watched from a safe distance, she wasn't quite sure what was going on. A relief washed over her face when Squall emerged from the waterfall, his entire front was sopping, and there wasn't a towel in sight. The splattered shirt rose to his face.

_That's right shirt, you lose._

"Oh thank Hyne Rinoa, you came just in time."

"Yeah well, it was nothing… Think you could toss me the, uh, ta-" Sentence uncompleted, the package was already in her arms. "Tha-"

"No problem, you go do your thing, I'll be out here… or something." Squall turned around to the desk, Rinoa slipped into the bathroom. Before the door even closed Squall was wailing, she shot out to help.

"Bloody Hell! Bloody, bloody... dammit!" Squall slumped with his hands on his face again.

"What, what! Oh hey my iced coffee!" Rinoa ran to the expanse of sludge, it had swept across the entire mass of papers.

"Bloody Hell… bloody coffee…. bloody tampons…" Squall sighed into his fists. Rinoa opened the bag she brought home. "I guess I'll go get a towel..." Of course, Squall was out of luck.


End file.
